Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Apatura iris on Dennis's Patch...

Delighted to announce the accidental discovery of Apatura iris in the Bradenham Valley (NT) just west of High Wycombe, Bucks, on the edge of Park Wood. 

Today I paid a quick visit to the site in the valley where we've successfully reintroduced His Grace The Duke of Burgundy, casually looked at a spray of a nice-looking caprea-type coppiced sallow and instantly found His Imperial Majesty hibernating there. I've never done that before and very much doubt I'll ever do it again. It was pure serendipity. Here's the 'pillar - 


And here's the NT's Neil Harris pointing at the 'pillar's location, 2m up on the north side of a 4m tall coppiced bush on the wood edge - 


This is, of course, bang in the middle of Dennis's Patch...

 Party time!

1 comment:

Guy said...

That looks an incredibly exposed sallow ... I give very little attention to trees in such locations. Perhaps the sun is just much hotter here, but all the caterpillars I've found have been on trees with plenty of shade for the young larvae.

And yes - amazing luck! Then again, that's how all the best discoveries are made - a bolt from the blue striking the prepared mind or eye.

Guy